Method and apparatus for monitoring an order status

ABSTRACT

A computerized system and method for monitoring an order placed by a customer for a product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location. The method includes presenting an order-entry interface to collect order information about the order to be transmitted to the supplier and store the order information in a computer-accessible order database. Warehouse information authorized by the supplier and transmitted to the warehouse is also stored. A carrier database stores a shipping rate of carriers for transporting the product ordered by the customer to the retail location, and a report generation subsystem collects at least a portion of the order information, the warehouse information and the shipping rate and generates a report displaying the collected information in a single display to be substantially simultaneously reviewed by a supervisor.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.60/983,740, filed Oct. 30, 2007, the entirety of which is incorporatedherein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by the law,but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This application relates generally to a method and apparatus formonitoring the progress of an order, and more specifically to acomputer-automated method and apparatus for retrieving order informationfrom a plurality of databases and presenting a report of the retrievedinformation substantially in real time to at least one of a vendor, acustomer and a shipping company.

2. Description of Related Art

Typically, when a retailer orders a product in bulk from a manufacturer,the retailer manually places the order with a representative of themanufacturer. In turn, the manufacturer sends a request to a warehousestoring the ordered product, requesting the warehouse to prepare thesuitable number of units of the ordered product and arrange for shippingof the product to the retailer that placed the order. The warehouse thencontacts a freight company for shipping the product and schedules a pickup date for the shipment.

Although such an ordering process is simple, there is littlecommunication between the manufacturer, warehouse and freight company,even though the warehouse may be operated by the manufacturer. And dueto this lack of communication, the actions of any of these three partiescan adversely affect the other two parties, resulting in late deliveryof the ordered product to the retailer. When efforts are made toidentify the source of an unexpected delay or other occurrence,identifying the source of the delay among the manufacturer, warehouseand freight company is difficult and time consuming. Further, makingarrangements to have the ordered products transported to the retailercan require a significant amount of time. So much time is often requiredthat making alternate arrangements upon learning that the initialshipping rates are higher than expected or that the initial shipmentwill be delayed is not practical.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus forpresenting a consolidated source of information to at least amanufacturer, warehouse and shipping representative to minimize delaysin the delivery of an ordered product to a customer. Such a method anapparatus can optionally be integrated with existing databasesmaintained by one or more of the manufacturer, warehouse and shippingrepresentative, and can optionally present the information in a timelymanner that allows for an alternate arrangement to be made in the eventof a contingency.

BRIEF SUMMARY

According to one aspect, the subject application involves a method ofmonitoring a status of an order placed by a customer for a productproduced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location. The methodincludes collecting order information about the order from acomputer-accessible order database included as part of an order routingsystem of the supplier and associating the order information with theorder, wherein the order information includes information thatidentifies at least one of: the product to be delivered, a quantity ofthe product desired to be delivered, and a requested ship date.Warehouse information is to be collected from a computer-accessiblewarehouse database in communication with a warehouse management systemand associating the warehouse information with the order, wherein thewarehouse information comprises at least one of: a scheduled load date,a scheduled date of departure of the product from the warehouse, and ascheduled date of delivery of the product to the retail location. Alow-cost carrier offering a lowest shipping rate relative to shippingrates offered by a group of available carriers for transporting thequantity of the product to the retail location is associated with theorder. A report is then generated to display the order information, thewarehouse information, the low-cost carrier and the lowest shipping rateassociated with the order corresponding to a predetermined time, and thereport is transmitted to be viewed in real-time by a supervisor.

According to another aspect, the subject application involvescomputerized system for fulfilling an order placed by a customer for aproduct produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location. Thesystem includes an order-routing subsystem for presenting an order-entryinterface to collect order information about the order to be transmittedto the supplier and store the order information in a computer-accessibleorder database. A warehouse management subsystem comprising acomputer-accessible warehouse database is provided for storing warehouseinformation authorized by the supplier and transmitted to the warehousestoring a sufficient quantity of the product ordered by the customer,wherein the warehouse information comprises at least one of: a scheduledload date, a scheduled date of departure of the product from thewarehouse, and a scheduled date of delivery of the product to the retaillocation. A carrier subsystem includes a carrier database and stores ashipping rate of a plurality of carriers for transporting the productordered by the customer to the retail location. And a report generationsubsystem collects at least a portion of the order information, thewarehouse information and the shipping rate and generates a reportdisplaying the portion of the order information, the warehouseinformation and the shipping rate collected in a single display to besubstantially simultaneously reviewed by a supervisor.

The above summary presents a simplified summary in order to provide abasic understanding of some aspects of the systems and/or methodsdiscussed herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of thesystems and/or methods discussed herein. It is not intended to identifykey/critical elements or to delineate the scope of such systems and/ormethods. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplifiedform as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presentedlater.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement ofparts, embodiments of which will be described in detail in thisspecification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form apart hereof and wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustrative example of a computerized system forfulfilling an order placed by a customer for a product produced by asupplier to be delivered to a retail location;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of system for monitoring a status ofan order placed by a customer for a product to be delivered to a retaillocation;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative example of a report generated by areport-generation subsystem;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative example of a graphical depiction of ainformation collected by a report generation subsystem; and

FIG. 5 is an illustrative example of a report including informationcollected by a report generation subsystem to rate shipping of a productordered by a customer from a supplier.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain terminology is used herein for convenience only and is not to betaken as a limitation on the present invention. Relative language usedherein is best understood with reference to the drawings, in which likenumerals are used to identify like or similar items. Further, in thedrawings, certain features may be shown in somewhat schematic form.

It is also to be noted that the phrase “at least one of”, if usedherein, followed by a plurality of members herein means one of themembers, or a combination of more than one of the members. For example,the phrase “at least one of a first widget and a second widget” means inthe present application: the first widget, the second widget, or thefirst widget and the second widget. Likewise, “at least one of a firstwidget, a second widget and a third widget” means in the presentapplication: the first widget, the second widget, the third widget, thefirst widget and the second widget, the first widget and the thirdwidget, the second widget and the third widget, or the first widget andthe second widget and the third widget.

An illustrative embodiment of a system 10 for fulfilling and managing anorder placed by a customer 12 is shown in FIG. 1. To clearly describeorder placement and fulfillment, an illustrative order placed by acustomer 12 for a quantity of home appliances to be delivered to aretail location for subsequent sale to retail consumers will be used.However, the scope of the present invention also includes orders placedwith any supplier 18 by any customer 12 for any desired goods.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 10 can be embodied by a network ofcomputer terminals, servers and associated hardware and/or software forfacilitating communications over a local communication network (referredto herein as a “LAN” 20), a public, wide area communication network suchas the Internet, for example (referred to herein as a “WAN” 30), orboth, between the various entities. The supplier 18, which can be thesource or manufacturer of the goods ordered by the customer 12, isequipped with a server 16 storing order information in an orderdatabase, computer-executable code that can be accessed by one or morenetworked computer terminals 14 over the LAN 20, and other content to beserved to the computer terminals 14 and optionally other terminalsexternally of the supplier 18.

A warehouse 22 storing a stock of the products sold by the supplier 18is maintained and operated by, or on behalf of the supplier 18. Thewarehouse 22 may be affiliated with the supplier 18, or operated by anindependent third party. Optionally, the warehouse 22 can be located onthe supplier's premises, or remotely located relative to the supplier18. Like the supplier 18, the warehouse 22 can include its own LAN 24establishing a communication network operatively connecting one or morewarehouse computer terminals 26 to a warehouse server 28. The warehouseserver 28 used by the warehouse 22 can optionally be the same server 16used by the supplier 18 to manage the entry of orders for the products,or can be a separate server that can communicate with the server 16utilized by the supplier 18 over the WAN 30.

A customer 12, which can be a national retailer such as Sears, HomeDepot, and Lowes, or a representative thereof, for example, typicallyinclude their own LAN 32 facilitating electronic communications betweena plurality of customer computer terminals 34 and a customer server 36.Optionally, the customer 12 can place orders for the products with thesupplier 18 from the customer computer terminals 34. The customer server36 utilized by the customer 12 can optionally serve content to thesecomputer terminals 34 thereby presenting an order form that can befilled out and subsequently transmitted to the supplier. According toalternate embodiments, the customer 12 can log into, and communicatedirectly with the server 16 over the WAN 30 and electronically provideorder information required to fully describe the order for the productsto be placed by the customer 12. According to other embodiments, thecustomer 12 can optionally verbally communicate an order for theproducts to the supplier 18 via telephone, place an order via e-mail, orotherwise communicate the order for the products in a manner thatrequires the supplier 18 to manually key the order information into theserver 16 utilized by the supplier 18 via one of the computer terminals14.

Regardless of the manner in which the order information is delivered tothe supplier 18, the order information is to be stored in acomputer-accessible order database 38 forming part of an order entrysubsystem 40 stored on the server 16 or another networkedcomputer-accessible memory as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 illustrates anillustrative arrangement of a system 42 for monitoring the status of anorder placed by a customer 12 and generating a report 70 (FIG. 3) of thestatus to be monitored by a supervisor in a consolidated report format.By storing the order information in the order database 38 on the orderserver 16, the order information can subsequently be accessed by aplurality of computer terminals 14 networked with the server 16 over theLAN 20. Other authorized parties such as the customer 12, warehouse 22,or any other authorized parties, for example, can also optionally gainaccess to the order information stored in the order database 38 on theserver 16 to review the status of the order as described in detailbelow.

Order entry subsystem 40 also includes computer readable code that canbe executed to thereby cause the order server 16 to serve content to theorder terminals 14, customer terminals 34, or a combination thereof, topresent an order-entry interface to be displayed for entering the orderinformation can be saved within the order database 38. Examples of theorder information to be stored within the order database 38 include, butare not limited to, one or more of an identity of the product, aquantity of the product desired to be delivered, and a requested shipdate submitted by the customer 12.

Likewise, a warehouse management subsystem 44 includes a warehousedatabase 46 for storing warehouse information pertaining to the orderplaced by the customer 12. Examples of the warehouse informationinclude, but are not limited to, a scheduled load date on which thequantity of the products to be transported to the retail location are tobe placed on the trailer to be picked up by a carrier, a scheduled dateon which the product will depart from the warehouse 22 en route to theretail location, a scheduled date of delivery of the product to theretail location, a requested ship and/or delivery date requested by thecustomer 12, and any other information required to fulfill the orderplaced by the customer 12.

The warehouse information, or at least a portion thereof, can optionallybe extracted from the order information entered into the order database38. According to such embodiments, the warehouse information isautomatically transmitted to be stored within the warehouse database 46in response to entry of the order information into the order database38. As mentioned above, the order database 38 and the warehouse database46 can optionally be stored on the same server, different servers orcomputer-accessible memories, or can even include information to bestored in the appropriate fields within the same database. Examples ofwarehouse information include a number of each product available forshipping, a number of the product on order and a scheduled date on whichthe ordered products will arrive at the warehouse 22, products onbackorder, late shipments, early shipments, average and total daysrequired to complete and ship an order from the warehouse 22 once theorder has been received, and any other information associated with thewarehousing of products to be delivered to customers.

A carrier subsystem 48 including a carrier database 50 is provided tostore shipping rates of a plurality of various carriers for transportingthe products to the retail location, or to any other location desired bythe customer 12. The carrier database 50 can optionally be an internal,local database, maintained by or on behalf of the supplier 18 orwarehouse 22, storing the last known shipping rates for the variousdifferent carriers. The shipping rates and other information stored inthe carrier database 50 can optionally be obtained periodically from athird-party logistics provider 55, such as Menlo® Worldwide Logistics(“Menlo”) or the like. According to one embodiment, shipping informationcan transmitted to the carrier subsystem 48 automatically over the WAN30 by Menlo in response to a request, or periodically, or evenoccasionally in response to changes in the shipping informationpreviously transmitted, for example. Menlo can return, among otherinformation, the lowest cost carriers available for particular loadsizes, ranges, transit times, geographic locality, etc. . . . fortransporting the desired quantity of the product to the retail location.Thus, the carrier subsystem 48 can associate low-cost carrier codes withevery customer 12 order entered into the order entry subsystem 40.

For embodiments where Menlo returns the carriers identified as being thelow-cost carrier (“LCC”) for a particular order, the shipping rate forthat carrier may optionally be omitted. Instead, Menlo, according tosuch embodiments, transmits the identity or code of the LCC, but notnecessarily the shipping rate for that carrier. The carrier database 50can also optionally store historical shipping rate information and otherknown information about each of the carriers to accessed locally (i.e.,internally within the warehouse 22 and/or supplier 18, optionally from aserver maintained by or on behalf of the warehouse 22 and/or supplier 18for example). The locally-stored shipping rates can be cross referencedto the various LCCs and associated with those LCCs in the report 70generated by the report generation subsystem 60 as described below.

A report generation subsystem 60 is operative to collect at least aportion of the order information, the warehouse information and theshipping rate and assemble the collected information into a report 70(FIG. 3). The report 70 displays the portion of the order information,the warehouse information and the shipping rate that was collected as asingle, unitary display to enable a supervisor to substantiallysimultaneously review all such information. Further, the portion of theorder information, the warehouse information and the shipping rate to beassembled into the report 70 can optionally be customizable by theintended recipient of the report 70.

Like the order entry subsystem 40 and warehouse management subsystem 44,the report generation subsystem 60 includes computer-readable code thatis to be executed by a computer terminal to perform its function (i.e.,collect and assemble the desired information into the report 70). FIG. 2illustrates the report generation subsystem 60 as being integrated intothe system 42 for monitoring the progress of the order that resides onat least one of the order server 16 and the warehouse server 28.However, it is to be noted that the report generation subsystem 60 canbe a local application residing on any of the order terminals 14,customer terminals 34, warehouse terminals 26, or any authorizedcomputer terminal in for compiling the information to be included in thereport 70. Further, the order information, warehouse information,carrier information or any other information to be included in thereport 70 can be stored as described above in each of their respectivedatabases, or can be combined in a common database accessible from acommon server to be assembled into the unified report 70.

According to an embodiment of a method of monitoring the status of anorder the report generation subsystem 60 can acquire some or all of theinformation contained in one or more of the order entry subsystem 40,the warehouse management subsystem 44, and the carrier subsystem 48 byconducting one or more queries. Each query for information is conductedby the report generation subsystem 60 at about the same time so allinformation displayed in the report 70 for each order is up to date, andreflects the information for that order corresponding to a common time.

The report generation subsystem 60 assembles the collected informationand can optionally also process (e.g., sorting, filtering, cataloging,counting, application of mathematical, time, and/or statisticalfunctions, comparisons, etc.) the orders to be displayed in the report70 by any portion of the collected information. For example, the orderscan be sorted, filtered, or otherwise arranged by the date on which theorder was placed, the date on which the products are to be delivered tothe retail location, the date on which the products are scheduled todepart the warehouse 22, carrier, a combination thereof, or any othercriteria. Such processes can be accomplished in any known manner, suchas via formulas, algorithms, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, etc.. . . The collected information, once assembled into the report 70, canoptionally be stored locally or remotely in a report database on anydesired computer-readable medium, including the order server 16, thewarehouse server 28, or any of the computerized terminals used to viewthe report 70. The report 70 can also optionally be transmitted over acommunication network (e.g., LAN, WAN 30 or both) as an e-mailattachment to the intended recipient. Accordingly, the report generationsubsystem 60 can accept as inputs data from one or more of the orderentry subsystem 40, the warehouse management subsystem 44 and thecarrier subsystem 48, and can assemble the collected information as areport 70 to be output to be transmitted to the supervisor recipientover at least one of the LANs 20, 24, 32 and optionally the WAN 30.

The collection of the information can be performed by the reportgeneration subsystem 60 itself, or by way of a third-party program, suchas, for example, software provided by Cognos® or the like. Theinformation collection can be collected and/or processed in real time,or at discrete time intervals, such as once every two hours, thoughvarious other time intervals are contemplated. In one example, when suchinformation is collected and/or processed in a discrete time interval,such as every two hours, the newly-collected information can overwritethe previously existing information included in a prior report. Thus, inthis example, every two hours the information in the report 70 isrefreshed with the most up-to date information available at that time.

As mentioned above, the locally stored shipping rate informationaccessible from the carrier subsystem 48 can optionally be associatedwith the LCC code(s) for each order by the carrier subsystem 48 or thereport generation subsystem 60 at a time when the report 70 is to begenerated. Thus, even if the logistics provider 55 does not returnshipping rates, the expected shipping rates for each order can still beincluded in the report 70. Further, the report generation subsystem 60can also optionally compare the shipping rate, expected and/or asreturned by the logistics provider 55, to a predetermined cutoff ratespecified by at least one of the supplier 18 and the warehouse 22. Thecutoff rate is the most expensive rate that the supplier 18 or warehouse22 will pay for standard shipping, above which the supplier 18 and/orwarehouse 22 considers the rate to be a premium shipping rate. If theexpected or actual shipping rate is determined by the comparison toexceed the cutoff rate, the report generation subsystem 60 can generatean alert indicating as such. For example, the premium shipping rates inthe report 70 can be highlighted or otherwise brought to the attentionof the supervisor.

The report generation subsystem 60 can combine all of the collectedinformation into the report 70 shown in FIG. 3, and transmit the report70 over at least one of the WAN 30, LAN 24 LAN 32, LAN 34 to the enduser and grant the end user up to date, and complete access to theinformation in one report 70. In one example, the information can bepresented in a spreadsheet form viewable in a proprietary or third-partysoftware application, such as, for example, Microsoft Excel®, Lotus®, orthe like (e.g., viewable in pivot tables, etc.). In one example, thecollected information in the report 70, such as that shown in FIG. 3,can be organized and presented into three weekly categories 80, 82, 84,detailing the current week's customer orders, next week's customer'sorders, and future customer's orders, respectively. The information ineach weekly category 80, 82, 84 can optionally be filtered by an desiredindicator 86, which can be selectable as a pull-down menu, to establishcriteria the information must meet to be included within the report 70.The report 70 generated by the report generation subsystem 60 can alsooptionally include a field 87 allowing manually-entered information tobe stored in at least one of the order database 38 and the warehousedatabase 46. The field 87 can be a text entry field for receiving a textentry entered by the supervisory utilizing a computer terminal forexample, or any other type of suitable data entry field.

Within each weekly category 80, 82, 84, the information about thevarious customer orders displayed can include, for example, the currentnumber of unallocated units, allocated units, total number of units,relative number or percentage of units, number of units on hold, numberof units back ordered, number of units past due, etc., though variousother information is also contemplated. In another example, detailedshipping information about the various customer orders displayed caninclude, for each of the number of units loaded, dispatched, etc., thetotal number of units, number of express units, number of units on hold,number of units past due, number of units loaded on time (LOT) orfailing, number of units shipped on time (SOT) or failing, number ofunits delivered on time (DOT) or failing, relative age of the unitsabove/below a threshold, number of units in will-call that are loadedbut not dispatched, number of units without an LCC code (e.g., notprocessed by the carrier subsystem 48), etc., though various other typesof information are also contemplated.

Of course, any or all of the foregoing information can be organized perfactory, per destination, per product, per product line, per date, perunit of time, etc. Additionally, because all of the information iscross-references, it can be readily sorted by the end-user within thespreadsheet/pivot table. For example, the data can be filtered or sortedaccording to the date on which the information in the report 70 wascollected by the report generation subsystem 60, product group, producttype, date, year, month, week, and other specific indicators 86 such asorders that are past due, back order, express, on hold, relative age,potential DOT failure (e.g., based upon a comparison of the currentdate, due date, and transit time), units on will-call loaded but notdispatched, units without an LCC code, units LOT or failing, units SOTor failing, customer 12 name, customer 12 type, etc., though variousother sorting fields are also contemplated. Further still, for arelatively greater detail view, each facility (e.g., each supplier 18,warehouse 22, retail location, etc. . . . ) can have an individualsubset of information in the report 70 that can display, for example,specific orders, order numbers, dates, amounts, costs, shipment loadnumbers, customer numbers, actual ship dates, planned ship dates,status, etc. . . . , though various other information is alsocontemplated. Thus, an end user can use the sorting functionality to“drill-down” deeper into the included information to more fullyunderstand the status of the order. In addition or alternatively, someor all of the fields can be altered by the end user to permitexperimentation with the data so as to allow better informed problemsolving. In addition or alternatively, any or all of the generatedreports can utilize exception-based reporting, wherein particularfields, data, etc. is or is not included in report 70 to help a userfilter out “system noise” to better view the underlying issues at hand.

In one example, the method and system can permit a user to monitor oraudit the levels of an item within the warehouse 22, such as on shelves,on pallets, in quarantine, or at another location within the warehouse22, to determine whether sufficient levels of inventory are on hand orexpected, whether there will be an undesirable variation in theinventory levels, and/or when to send an order to replenish. Forexample, when an order is loaded on a truck, the warehouse 22 operatormay notify the warehouse management subsystem 44 that a pallet-load of aparticular item has been transferred from the warehouse 22. As such, theentry will become part of the report 70 after the next database refresh(e.g., every two hours). Thus, a user can view the report 70 data andanalyze it to determine whether there is likely to be an undesirablevariation in inventory levels and/or when to order addition stock ofthat item. As another example, the system 42 can detail and track thenumber of units available for shipment as of a particular date or rangeof dates, as compared to the total number ordered, so as to determine apercentage of allocated stock.

In another example, the system 10 can analyze or audit current andhistorical inventory data to detect trends such as deviations betweenplanned replenishment and actual replenishment and to build a predictivemodel of future inventory needs. These trends and predictions can bedetermined using various methods, such as linear regression,classification and regression trees, or other stochastic algorithms. Forexample, the system 10 can compare the promised and actual delivery timefor various quantities of inventory delivered in the past to generatepredictions for actual delivery dates and quantities for futurereplenishment activities that are planned but not yet completed.

In yet another example, the system 10 can use the report informationalong with the LCC information within the carrier subsystem 48 todetermine if any projected transportation systems are being operatedinefficiently, and predict shipping delays. For example, the system 10can use the data to determine if goods are being shipped to a retaillocation from a distant warehouse 22, instead of from a closer (andgenerally cheaper) local or regional warehouse 22. Thus, a supervisorviewing the report 70 can quickly view all information required todetermine the inefficient warehouse 22 usage from a single report 70,and provide different shipping arrangements. Additionally, the reportinformation along with the LCC information can be used to determine thefrequency of non-LCC carriers (e.g., expensive premium carriers) for usein scaling back their use.

In addition or alternatively, any or all of the data can be presented inspecialized pictorial graphs, charts, etc. For example, a graphicalchart such as that shown in FIG. 4, can be generated that displays, fora particular time frame (e.g., the current week), the number of loadstendered with premium (i.e., non-LCC or high cost) carriers versus theparticular day of the week to help determine shipping problems. Theinformation can be organized in a bar chart, line chart, pie chart, orthe like. In addition or alternatively, the graphs, charts, etc. canillustrate trends in the data, and/or can even predict futureperformance of a particular data set. Even further still, the charts caninclude interactive/dynamic functionality, such as via a menu system 90that can permit a user to customize the type or amount of data displayedin a particular type of graph, chart, etc. Thus, for example, where achart shows a particular trend or interest point (e.g., an unexpectedspike or drop in supply or demand, etc.), the interactive nature of thechart can permit a user to “drill-down” deeper into the underlyinginformation to analyze the cause of the trend or interest point that canlead to some corrective action. In addition or alternatively, the chartsor graphs can be adapted to be useable and viewable on an interactiveremote conference call type of system 10, such as over the internet viaa third-party program (e.g., Web-X or the like).

In addition or alternatively, the system 10 and method can be adapted togenerate summaries or report cards for particular aspects of the overalldata. In one example, the system 10 can be adapted to generate a summaryor report card, an example of which is shown in FIG. 5, for the freightcarrier or contractor. In FIG. 5, the summary includes informationdetailing number of orders shipped, on hold, not released by thesupplier 18 to the warehouse 22 less than two days from the ship date,loads tendered, loads tendered but not verified for pick-up, loadedremaining unloaded, loads missed, possible DOT failures, amount of moneylost, etc., though various other information is also contemplated. Thesummary can include past, present, future, and/or predicted data. Ofcourse, other summary data can also be generated. For example, summariescan be generated for items shipped the same day as loaded for transport,orders remaining to ship that are not tendered with a carrier, factorywarehouse 22 loading schedules, and/or demand of product per week thatis not released to a warehouse 22 for shipping, though various othersummaries are also contemplated.

In another example, such summaries can be utilized to compare betweentwo or more factories, warehouses, distribution centers, distributionchannels, etc. Thus, for example, particular aspects of two differentfactories can be directly compared against each other. In one example,two factories can be compared against each other with regards to theirrespective warehouse loading schedules relative to particular products,customers, ship dates, deadlines, etc. This comparison can be beneficialin determining why a particular factory is producing more or less thananother, shipping problems, backlogs, etc. Additionally, the summary canbe useful in determining corrective actions, new strategies, etc.

In addition or alternatively, the system 10 and method can be adapted toprovide various other functionality. In one example, the system 10 canbe adapted to provide information regarding loading capacity by day bywarehouse 22 to compare to Customer demand requirements for quicklylabor planning solutions. In another example, the system 10 can beadapted to provide information regarding disruption free performance(DFP) codes that may currently exist within the warehouse managementsubsystem 44 to permit warehouse managers to quickly summarize andanalyze these failure codes for corrective action. In yet anotherexample, the method and system 10 can be adapted to provide informationregarding warehouse management subsystem 44 open order quantities perSKU to capture planned fill rate failures for planned loading and actualfill rate failures for dispatching.

In addition or alternatively, the system 10 and method can be adapted togenerate and display any of all of the report information and/or theaforedescribed graphs, charts, etc. for use on the internet For example,the system 10 and method can include a Web server adapted to generateHTML code or the like and accompanying image files for displaying theinformation communicated to the recipient over the WAN 30. Thus, thesupplier 18, the warehouse 22, management, customers, carriers, andother authorized individuals can gain ready access to informationregarding various customer orders from remote locations. In such aremote-access internet system, each user (e.g., employees of thesupplier 18, customer 12, warehouse 22, carrier, etc.) can be assigned auser ID and password to enable the system 10 to place different securityrestrictions on each user. Thus, each user can be restricted to viewingonly particular data. For example, a customer 12 can be restricted toviewing only data pertaining to their own orders.

The system 10 and method can include internet compatibility protocols,such as the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), the TransportControl Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) suite of protocols, theHypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), the Wireless Application Protocol(WAP), and/or other suitable communication protocols. Thesecommunication protocols can permit the system 10 to communicate with aremote client application (e.g., an Internet user). In one example, theclient application is a browser application capable of displaying Webpages retrieved from Web server using standardized Web page addressingformats. The browser can display various types of content in addition toWeb pages. Moreover, the location of the content may be represented witha variety of addresses, such as Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) andUniform Resource Identifiers (URIs), or the like.

The Web server can also generate HTML code representing the charts,graphs, etc. In one example, the HTML code contains visible HTMLelements and hidden HTML elements (i.e., a visible HTML element isdisplayed, while a hidden HTML element is not displayed but can containinformation about an event or action). The HTML code generated by theWeb server contains elements that register scripting language functionsto handle events. In one example, the scripting language functions canbe JavaScript functions. Interactive functions are triggered by useractions, which the browser sends, e.g., on mouse actions while the mousecursor is positioned within the chart or graph area. The HTML codegenerated by the Web server can also contain elements that are used forthe interaction dialog on the client side (browser-side), such as forinteracting with the graph or chart, or altering the appearance of thegraph or chart.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in digitalelectronic circuitry (or even analog electronic circuitry), or incomputer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations thereof. Thesystem and method can be implemented in a computer-readable code storedon a tangible computer-accessible medium, e.g., on a machine-readablestorage device or in a propagated signal, for execution by aprogrammable processor; and the method steps can be performed by aprogrammable processor executing a program of instructions to performfunctions by operating on input data and generating output. Theforegoing can be implemented advantageously in one or more computerprograms that are executable on a programmable computer system includingat least one programmable processor coupled to receive data andinstructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a datastorage system, at least one input device, and at least one outputdevice.

Suitable processors for the execution of a program of instructionsinclude, by way of example, both general and special purposemicroprocessors, and the sole processor or one of multiple processors ofany kind of computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructionsand data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. Thebasic elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructionsand one or more memories for storing instructions and data. Generally, acomputer will also include, or be operatively coupled to communicatewith, one or more mass storage devices for storing data files; suchdevices include magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks andremovable disks; magneto-optical disks; and optical disks. Storagedevices suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructionsand data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way ofexample semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flashmemory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removabledisks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. Theprocessor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in,ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits).

To provide for interaction with a user, the invention can be implementedand/or executed on a computer having a display device such as a CRT(cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquid crystal display) monitor fordisplaying information to the user and a keyboard and a pointing devicesuch as a mouse, trackball, or the like, or even a voice command system,by which the user can provide input to the computer.

The invention can be implemented in a computer system that includes aback-end component, such as a data server or mainframe, or that includesa middleware component, such as an application server, intranet server,or an Internet server, or-that includes a front-end component, such as aclient computer having a graphical user interface or an Internetbrowser, or any combination of them. The components of the system 10 canbe connected by any form or medium of digital data communication,including various forms of wired or wireless communication.

Illustrative embodiments have been described, hereinabove. It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the above devices and methodsmay incorporate changes and modifications without departing from thegeneral scope of this invention. It is intended to include all suchmodifications and alterations within the scope of the present invention.Furthermore, to the extent that the term “includes” is used in eitherthe detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to beinclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as “comprising”is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim.

1. A method of monitoring a status of an order placed by a customer fora product produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location,the method comprising: collecting, using a computer system with accessto a computer-readable medium accessible over a communication network,order information about the order from an order database included aspart of an order routing system of the supplier and adding the orderinformation to an electronic record relating to the order, wherein theorder information includes information that identifies at least one of:the product to be delivered, a quantity of the product desired to bedelivered, and a requested ship date; collecting, using the computersystem, warehouse information from a computer-accessible warehousedatabase in communication with a warehouse management system and addingthe warehouse information to the electronic record to establish arelationship between the order information collected and the warehouseinformation collected for the order, wherein the warehouse informationcomprises at least one of: a scheduled load date, a scheduled date ofdeparture of the product from the warehouse, and a scheduled date ofdelivery of the product to the retail location; including in theelectronic record relating to the order, a low-cost carrier offering alowest shipping rate relative to shipping rates offered by a group ofavailable carriers for transporting the quantity of the product to theretail location; using the computer system, comparing the lowestshipping rate offered by the low-cost carrier to a predetermined cutoffrate that has been previously approved as a maximum acceptable shippingrate that is acceptable to at least one of the supplier and thewarehouse as a standard shipping rate, above which supervisory approvalof the lowest shipping rate as a premium shipping rate is required; inresponse to a determination resulting from said comparing that thelowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate, providing an alert for theorder to indicate that the lowest shipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate;generating a report that displays the order information, the warehouseinformation, the low-cost carrier, the alert and the lowest shippingrate associated with the order corresponding to a predetermined time;and transmitting the report to be viewed in real-time by a supervisor.2. The method of claim 1, wherein said collecting order informationcomprises retrieving the order information from the computer-accessibleorder database maintained on behalf of the supplier over a wide-areacommunication network.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein said collectingwarehouse information comprises retrieving the warehouse informationfrom the computer-accessible warehouse database maintained on behalf ofthe warehouse over a wide-area communication network.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein said collecting the order information, said collectingthe warehouse information and said including in the electronic recordrelating to the order, the low-cost carrier are all performed within acommon time period to bring all of the order information, warehouseinformation and the low-cost carrier in the report up to date.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein said collecting the order information, saidcollecting the warehouse information and said including in theelectronic record relating to the order, the low-cost carrier areperiodically performed at regular intervals.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein said generating the report is performed during each regularinterval and the order information, warehouse information and low-costcarrier are refreshed when the report is generated.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the report is customizable to display a portion of atleast one of the order information and the warehouse information desiredby the supervisor.
 8. The method of claim 1 further comprising filteringa plurality of orders as a function of one or more dates selected from:a ship date requested by the customer, the scheduled load date, thescheduled date of departure of the product from the warehouse, and thescheduled date of delivery of the product to the retail location.
 9. Acomputerized system for fulfilling an order placed by a customer for aproduct produced by a supplier to be delivered to a retail location, thecomputerized system comprising: an order-routing subsystem forpresenting an order-entry interface to collect order information aboutthe order to be transmitted to the supplier and store the orderinformation in a computer-accessible order database; a warehousemanagement subsystem comprising a computer-accessible warehouse databasefor storing warehouse information authorized by the supplier andtransmitted to the warehouse storing a sufficient quantity of theproduct ordered by the customer, wherein the warehouse informationcomprises at least one of: a scheduled load date, a scheduled date ofdeparture of the product from the warehouse, and a scheduled date ofdelivery of the product to the retail location; a carrier subsystemcomprising a carrier database storing a shipping rate of a plurality ofcarriers for transporting the product ordered by the customer to theretail location, wherein said carrier subsystem performs a comparison ofa lowest available shipping rate offered by at least one of the carriersto a cutoff rate that has been previously approved as a maximumacceptable shipping rate; and a report generation subsystem forcollecting at least a portion of the order information, the warehouseinformation and the shipping rate and generating a report displaying theportion of the order information, the warehouse information and theshipping rate collected in a single display to be substantiallysimultaneously reviewed by a supervisor, wherein, in response to adetermination resulting from said comparison that the lowest availableshipping rate exceeds the cutoff rate, the report generation subsystemgenerates an alert to request supervisory approval of the lowestavailable shipping rate by at least one of the supplier and thewarehouse as a premium shipping rate before the order is to be shipped.10. The computerized system of claim 9, wherein the report generationsubsystem collects the portion of the order information, the warehouseinformation and the shipping rate periodically, at regular intervals,and updates the report to reflect changes to the portion of the orderinformation, the warehouse information and the shipping rate that haveoccurred subsequent to generation of a previous report.
 11. Thecomputerized system of claim 9, wherein the report generated by thereport generation subsystem is transmitted over a communication networkto be displayed by a supervisory computer and includes a field allowingmanual information entry to be stored in at least one of thecomputer-accessible order database and the computer-accessible warehousedatabase.
 12. The computerized system of claim 11, wherein the field isa text entry field for receiving a text entry entered with thesupervisory computer.
 13. The computerized system of claim 9, whereinthe order-routing subsystem and the warehouse management subsystem areoperatively connected to communicate electronically over at least one ofa private communication network and a public communication network.